HCL Foundation commits Rs 100 crore over five years to support NGOs

NEW DELHI: HCL Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of the HCL group, has committed Rs 100 crore over five years through a new initiative called HCL Grant. The initiative will support NGOs and individual social leaders working towards the development of rural India.

The Foundation will focus on areas such as education, livelihood, health, water, etc. While in the first year it has chosen an NGO for a grant of Rs 5 crore from a selection of six shortlisted NGOs, in the future it could also fund individuals working in the area of rural development.

Robin Abrams, board member, HCL Technologies and Chairperson of Jury, HCL Grant, said that while charity is important, just charity is not enough. “We’ve got some NGOs that are doing some incredibly good work. If we also add some of the lessons that we have from the HCL group along with the financial capacity, we could actually help take some of the NGOs and the development sector to a whole new level,” Abrams told ET.

Abrams, a long serving board member of HCL, said the idea came about during a review of the group’s CSR obligations after the new CSR mandate under the Company’s Act. “We were reviewing how we are meeting our CSR obligations and it became obvious as there was more opportunity than just doing CSR... and we started talking about sourcing, open sourcing,” said Abrams.

A former Apple Computers executive, she added that there are several NGOs doing remarkable work and the idea is to use some of the best practices published and available so that the message around delivery, sustainability, and governance can be emphasised.

The Foundation’s earlier efforts include a project called 'Samuday' through which it runs both urban and rural initiatives. Under Samuday, it is working with 54 urban initiatives in Chennai, Bangalore and NCR and a 100 rural villages in UP.

HCL has also started another initiative called the Power of One. “The Power of One is 1 rupee from one employee everyday so its 1-1-1. At the moment we are over 40,000 employees that are participating in the Power of One program,” said Abrams, adding that she is looking at implementing the programme at some of the other companies she is associated with.

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